Haunted
by Chase Yuy
Summary: AU. Subaru is brought back to be with his teammates after he recieves Sei's eye. He's in a state of self loathing when two unsespected guests show up. I'm a review addict. Please R&R. Feed the addiction.


**Haunted**

_Chapter one: Rain Falling from the Sky_

The sound of the rain slapping the window pane outside had no effect on the silent figure inside the room. The shadows played on the wall until the entire room was lit by lightning and a thin figure was shown to be standing in the doorway.

"Subaru?"

They'd found him in an alley, clutching a jar close to his heart. He hadn't responded to anything said to him and his eyes were blank.

"Subaru?"

Kamui moved forward to his friend's side. He hadn't let go of the jar in the twenty four hours since they'd brought him back. The younger boy knew what it meant even if no one expected him to. Sakurazuku Seishirou was dead and Sumeragi Subaru had taken his place, willingly. The fact that the jar contained his dead friend's eye was a sign of that. The question now was to what extent the nearly catatonic man understood what he'd done.

"Subaru? Subaru, please?" Kamui's thin hand touched his elder friend's shoulder lightly. The other hand hovered just over his face and searched its way down, never touching, to the jar clutched so tightly. "Please, Subaru… He's gone. We're still here."

Kamui started when he felt a drop of water against his hand and realized that it was one tear. More followed, streaming down Subaru's face. "It should have been me," the elder man whispered, eyes blinking rapidly to focus in. "It should have been me. It was supposed to be me. I never wanted…"

"He knows," Kamui reassured him.

"And you? What do you know?" Subaru hissed, anger filling his voice, but he sounded too exhausted to put too much force behind it.

"I know that none of us want to lose you!" Kamui responded. "Not to a ghost! Not to this!" He grabbed at the jar and pulled it away.

"No! Please…." He sounded pathetic, Kamui had to admit. He sounded as if his life depended on that jar that held an eye ball in it.

"I won't see you waste away," the younger man said sternly. "Not when I've lost so much already. I won't stand for it. I'm selfish, Subaru, and I won't give you up to him. Nor to her. They can keep each other company. They're beyond your reach now."

The tears were streaming down his too pale face and he reached up towards the lanky boy for the jar, but he could not stand. "Kamui…"

"I'm going to go get you something to eat."

Subaru was left in the darkened room alone, with only the sound of his sobs to keep him company. His breath hitched several times before he tipped over on the floor, his fingers clawing at the rug and a half-sob, half cry of anguish escaped from his throat. It wasn't long before he fell asleep where he was and he never knew it when Kamui brought some little something for him to eat. He never heard the phone call or the frantic voice on the other end that had heard so much and yet so little. He never heard any of it and never knew of it. He dreamt only of the sakura tree that had been the death of so many and how its leaves bled his sister dry. In his own private hell he screamed the night away.

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The rain had driven her under the shelter of the many sakura trees. She shuddered from the cold. "We couldn't even get a decent umbrella," she grumbled, pushing her short dark locks from her face.

"Picky, picky," a taunting voice came from behind.

The young woman looked up at the taller man. "Mou… Has all this depressing rain maid even you sad?"

"I'm never sad."

"But you feel," she replied with a knowing smile.

"You always knew too much."

"It's what I do best," the girl responded with a carefree shrug. "You'll learn to handle it again."

"The question is why…" His voice was low and thoughtful as he reached out one pale hand and touched the bark of the tree he was standing next to.

"Who cares?" the girl grumbled. "It doesn't matter. It is what it is. Death, life, we have no cycle, do we?"

"Who knows?"

"If you don't, then we're in real trouble."

"I thought you knew everything, Hokuto-chan," the man chuckled.

"But, Sei-chan, surely you know about life and death. After all, you're experience is so much more recent."

Seishirou smiled. "What do you say we pay Subaru-kun a visit? I think it's high time."

"I agree. My brother has been alone for too long."

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A/N: So this is the first chapter. Let's see what comes of it. I wonder just how much my writing style has changed since my last X fic... It's been some time, hasn't it?

TBC

CY


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